Make the most of your food dollars

If it seems like you bring home fewer bags of food for your
money every time you go to the grocery store, it will come as no
surprise that food is our third-highest expenditure. Although we
can’t stop buying food or make prices go down, we can shop
wisely and manage the food we have on hand to get the best value
for our food dollars.

The first thing we can do is make sure we eat all the food we
purchase. That may sound obvious, but according to a recent University
of Arizona study, households typically throw away about $1,000 worth of food
in a year.

To make sure you won’t be throwing food away, plan to make
leftovers. That can mean having a potluck night to clean out the
refrigerator or packaging leftovers from dinner for the next
day’s lunch. Keep a plastic container in the freezer to
hold
leftover vegetables. When it gets full, you are very close to
having vegetable soup. Buy only what you can eat of fresh fruits
and vegetables. You can supplement those fresh fruits and
vegetables with canned and frozen.

Fresh fruit and vegetables represent some of our
largest food waste. Save money by purchasing items that are
in season. You can save a significant amount of money by planting a garden.
And the closer you can get to fresh-picked, the more nutrients your
produce will have — the produce you bring in from your backyard will be
packed with nutrients.

Only go to the store once a week. If you plan meals around
store ads, make a list and shop wisely to help save money. The
longer you linger at the store, the more likely you are to make
impulse purchases that bust your budget — so being organized and sticking
to your list helps you save money.